A lot of people are interested in sustainability these days, but is your posture sustainable? Another way of saying this is, “Do you have a sense of comfort and ease in your body when you’re going about your day, or do you struggle to have good posture and end up in pain?” If you’re not trying to have “good posture”, then are you just collapsing when you sit and stand?

This is so common today everywhere you look. A recent student told me that after taking the Balance Your Body course, she saw examples of unhealthy posture everywhere she looked. It’s our basic default posture in the U.S. But this can be changed at any age – it just takes some practice. Let’s look at posture in the garden, and I’ll give you some helpful tips from the Balance Posture Method as well as from Permaculture, so you can enjoy your time in your garden without sacrificing your back.

(I wrote about “Pain-Free Gardening” last year in August and September, and if you missed those articles, you can read them by going to the archive.)

Tips for Healthy Posture in the Garden

One thing we have learned from observing people in Balance (with natural, healthy posture) is that they use their feet to get to where they want to go. I described healthy bending in my August, 2009 article. One other aspect of healthy bending, in addition to bending from your hip joints, is to get close to the item you are bending toward.

If you want to pick something up, don’t try to grab it from 2 feet away. I’ve been known to do this in my “pre-Balance” days – to be in a hurry and think I don’t have the time to walk right up to the thing I want to pick up. People in Balance walk up to the object until they are usually standing right over it. If you do this, you’ll be in a much safer place to lift the object. Use your feet, not your back.

When you’re digging, again it’s important to bend at your hip crease, not your waist. If you’re shoveling dirt, don’t leave your feet facing one direction and then twist to dump the dirt into a wheelbarrow. Instead, like I mentioned above, use your feet! That way you won’t be twisting your spine, which is dangerous, especially with a load.

Use your abdominal muscles (we call this “bracing”) when you’re digging or pulling tough weeds out of the ground. This helps to protect your back by stabilizing your spine. I teach bracing in the Balance Your Body course. You need to first of all make sure your spine is fairly straight and elongated, then brace to stabilize your spine in that position. This gives you a lot of strength when lifting, carrying, digging, etc.

I’ve been asked numerous times about weeding, and how to work close to the ground. Some Balanced people squat to work low, especially in Asia. Others sit on a low support (in Portugal they may sit on a coffee can). Most of us in the U.S. will do better sitting on a low stool or chair than squatting, since squatting causes most people’s backs to round. You can also kneel to do some weeding, if your knees will allow it. Try a pad under your knees so they won’t be sore later. You’ll also need to make sure your back is straight & elongated in this position.

Tips from Permaculture

Finally, some of the things I learned from Permaculture (Regenerative Design Institute – www.regenerativedesign.org, Daily Acts – www.dailyacts.org) can be really helpful to make gardening more comfortable. Plan your garden for ease by putting things you need to tend to often in “zone 1”. This zone starts right at your front or back steps and extends out from about 0-25 feet. In other words, don’t put plants that you need to harvest daily at the far end of your garden. Make it easy on yourself.

Using perennial plants is another way to lighten your load. These plants don’t need to be replanted every year, thus saving you lots of work if they do well in your climate. You can reap the harvest from one planting for many years. Finally, consider where your water source is and put plants that need a lot of water close to it. Drought-tolerant plants can be placed farther away.

If you pay attention to your alignment while you’re in the garden, you’ll be more likely to keep gardening for many years in comfort. If you also plan your garden with some Permaculture principles in mind, you can save yourself extra work and time. Both the Balance Method of posture and Permaculture can help you to create a more sustainable life – for your garden, the environment, and your body.

© Dana K. Davis, 2010

Unfortunately, all that activity in the garden can also lead to aches & pains.  Digging, raking, pruning and carrying can leave you with pain in lots of places: your back, neck, shoulders, wrists, and knees.  Using the postural techniques of the Balance Method when you move in the garden can make all the difference.  I learned this through a very painful experience.

I had a living Christmas tree that was growing too big for my patio in San Francisco, so I decided to give it away to my sister, who had a bigger yard.  Now, I had learned healthy bending (Bending in Balance) at that time, but I was in a hurry to get this tree in my car.  After rushing to grab the tree, shove it in my car, drive to my sister’s house and pull the tree out of the car, I was relieved to get that task finished and join my family for a trip out of town.

That is, until I bent over to pick up something really light, and felt my back scream! I realized that my lack of awareness in lifting the tree had messed up my back.  It was really painful to get in and out of the car, and if I tried to sit down in a chair in my old posture, I was in too much pain and had to stand up!

Through practicing Balance day and night I was able to get to a place of no pain very quickly.  Sitting, standing and sleeping in Balance provided relief immediately.

So, Balance can help relieve those pains that you may get from overdoing it in the garden.  But I’ve heard it said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  I’d like to give you some tips so that you can hopefully avoid those aches & pains and keep enjoying your garden.  If you want more hands on practice, I’m also available for private sessions in your garden to coach you on your posture, and look for my “Pain-Free Gardening” workshop coming up later this month.

Healthy Bending in the Garden

The most important thing is to stand, bend and walk in Balance in your garden.  If you bring some extra attention to your posture, it will definitely pay off.  Let’s look at Bending.

When I threw my back out, what I had just done was bending and twisting, most likely from the waist.  So, remember, whenever you bend, bend from your hip joints, not from your waist.  This is the place where your legs join your torso, not belt level.  If you stand and lift one knee up, you’ll see the place where your clothing will fold at the top of your leg.  That’s where you should bend.

It’s really helpful to practice this slowly a few times to make sure you really are bending from your hip crease.  Many people think they are doing this, but they are actually rounding their backs and bending from the waist.

Practicing slowly several times will help you to retrain yourself with new, healthy movement patterns.  It’s also helpful to take one hand and feel your back when you are bending.  What’s happening back there?  Do you feel the bones poking way out?  If so, you’ll need to relax your belly and bend more deeply at your hip crease.  Make sure your knees are at least slightly bent, and that your feet are at least hip width from each other.

What if you touch your back and you feel a deep indentation instead?  This is common in more flexible people.  This means you are probably lifting your chest and over-arching your back.  You’ll need to drop your front ribs, and you may even need to use your abdominal muscles to stabilize your torso while bending.

One more detail about bending: never twist when you are bending!  This is really important!  This is how I hurt my back.  I’ve also heard this from many people – “I just bent over and twisted and then I felt this sharp pain in my back.”  When you are bending, keep your entire body facing the same direction.  When you need to turn, use your feet and turn your whole body at the same time, rather than twisting at the waist.

This doesn’t mean that you should never twist.  Just don’t twist when bending or carrying weight – only twist a straight spine.

Watch for a future post with more tips on pain-free Gardening.  I’d also like to recommend the workshops and sustainability tours of Daily Acts (www.dailyacts.org), if you want to learn more and get inspired about how your actions can make a difference.  I wish you many enjoyable hours in your garden.  Pay attention to your bending and you won’t have to “pay” for your time spent in your garden!

Do you have a question about posture that you would like answered in this E-zine?  Comment below; I’d love your suggestions.